Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

1
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)

• Reference Chapter 12, section 2, Wireless
  Communications and Networks, by William
  Stallings, Prentice Hall

2
Introduction

• WAP is designed to work with all wireless network
  technologies (GSM, CDMA, TDMA)
• WAP Specification
• A programming model based on the WWW Programming
  Model
• A markup language, the Wireless Markup Language,
  adhering to XML
• A specification of a small browser suitable for a
  mobile, wireless terminal
• A lightweight communications protocol stack
• A framework for wireless telephony applications
  (WTAs)

3
Architectural Overview
4
WAP Programming Model
5
WAP Infrastructure
6
WAP Design Considerations

• Limitations of the mobile node
• Small screen size
• Limited input capability
• Limited processors, memory, and battery life
• Wireless networks
• Relatively low bandwidth
• High latency
• Unpredictable availability and stability compared
  to wired connections

7
WAP Related Protocols

• Wireless Markup Language (WML)
• Designed to describe content and format for
  presenting data on devices with limited
  bandwidth, limited screen size, and limited user
  input capability
• Mainly text-based information that attempts to
  capture the essence of the Web page and that is
  organized for easy access for users of mobile
  devices

8
WAP Related Protocols (cont)

• WMLScript
• A scripting language with similarities to
  JavaScript
• Designed for defining script-type programs in a
  user device with limited processing power and
  memory
• Wireless Application Environment
• Specifies an application framework for wireless
  devices such as mobile telephones, pagers, and
  PDAs

9
WAE Client Components
10
WAP Related Protocols (cont)

• Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)
• WSP is a transaction-oriented protocol based on
  the concept of a request and a reply
• WSP also defines a server Push operation, in
  which the server sends unrequested content to a
  client device (e.g. broadcast messages)
• Wireless Transaction Protocol (WTP)
• WTP provides a reliable transport service but
  dispenses with much of the overhead of TCP

11
WAP Related Protocols (cont)

• Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS)
• WTLS provides security services between the
  mobile device (client) and the WAP gateway
• WTLS is based on the industry-standard Transport
  Layer Security (TLS) Protocol, which is a
  refinement of the secure sockets layer (SSL)
• TLS is the standard security protocol used
  between Web browsers and Web servers
• WTLS is more efficient than TLS, requiring fewer
  message exchanges

12
WAP Related Protocols (cont)

• Wireless Datagram Protocol (WDP)
• WDP is used to adapt a higher-layer WAP protocol
  to the communication mechanism used between the
  mobile node and the WAP gateway